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Maple Ale Pulled Pork

I wish that I had a new computer so that I could download the photos of this masterpiece from my camera and share them with you because this roast is so damn beautiful. I highly recommend using the more traditional cuts of pork shoulder or butt for this roast as they have a higher fat content and more connective tissue that are both responsible for keeping the meat moist throughout the lengthy cooking time. Since I couldn’t find a pork shoulder at Trader Joe’s I used a center cut pork roast which isn’t ideal but still had a 1/2″ cushion of fat that, along with plenty of basting and some time covered in tinfoil, kept it moist.

Now, I set aside about 10 hours on a Sunday to cook this roast. I was a perfect reason to be 110% anti-social for an extended period of time. Most people have neither the discipline to not leave their tiny apartment for 10 hours nor the commitment to being anti-social necessary to do that. For those of you who fall into that group, I recommend that you put this together after dinner, cook it overnight, shred it in the morning, and pop it back into the oven to warm up before dinner. It sounds like a lot of work but there is actually very little ‘active’ time in the recipe and the hassle of a long cooking time is totally work it!

Grind garlic and salt together with a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste. Slowly add in olive oil, cayenne, cumin, and black pepper until it is all combined.

Rub 1/3 of paste onto meat. Place in roasting pan and cook for 30 minutes.

Stir syrup and vinegar into remaining paste.

Lower heat to 225, spread remaining paste onto roast and 1/3 cup ale.

Return to oven and cook for one hour, baste, and cook for up to 8 hours pouring beer into the pan at intervals and basting the roast with its juices. When the roast can be easily shredded with a fork, it is done.

Let the roast rest, reserving the pan juices, for 30 minutes before shredding with 2 large forks or similar tools. As the juices begin to cool, scrape the fat from the top.

Toss the pulled pork with the reserved juice and serve.

**NOTE: If not using a pork shoulder or butt consider covering with tinfoil for half of the cooking time.